Nothing good ever comes from murder
by Pianoninja
Summary: Beckett and Castle are working a case but not all is as it should be - with both the murder and the detective. Caskett fluff.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! So urm this is the first time I've written any Castle fiction and I'm not 100% happy with it so sorry if the characters aren't completely in character. Anyway, hope you enjoy it and please be fabby and drop me a review :D **

"So, what've we got?" Beckett queried as she stifled a yawn, only for another to come out seconds later.

"Late Night Beckett?" Esposito jeered as he walked past with Ryan and nudged her gently in the ribs. Kate closed her eyes momentarily and shook her head disapprovingly,

"Lanie? Please tell me there's a dead body for me so I can get away from these idiots" she sighed as the pathologist walked towards her. Lanie studied her friend's pale features with forethought as she relayed details to the team.

"Right children; thirty five year old male, wallet was found at the scene - so probably not a robbery, cause of death is unknown but to me it's evident that he's been tortured, and it's safe to say that he probably didn't choose the cologne himself" she added with a smile.

"What do you-" Beckett wondered before Lanie interrupted,

"You best come have a look."

Ryan and Esposito turned the corner as the women hung back slightly. Lanie took the detective's forearm gently, stopping her in her tracks momentarily and quietly enquired,

"You alright babe?" Beckett replied with a curt nod, attempting to brush off her friend's concern. "Seriously Kate, the bloke lying on the floor round there looks in better health than you, are you sleeping alright?"

"Lane I'm fine alright, just leave it." Lanie rolled her eyes as the detective continued around the corner of the alley, only to be greeted by a rather unusual sight, even in her eyes. In front of them was a middle aged man, not one item of clothing covering his grey-blue skin as his body lay face down on the concrete floor, his arms brought up above his head, unnaturally, so his palms were touching and his legs crossed so that each foot was brought round to touch the opposite knee. There was a halituous smell in the air around the body which became stronger as Beckett approached. She screwed up her face as the stench hit her lungs and coughed as it filled the atmosphere.

"What is that?" Ryan queried, covering his face with the sleeve of his suit.

"Rotting fish guts" came a deep yet familiar voice from behind them.

"Ahh Castle, I was wondering when you'd turn up to give us your exciting theory on this one" Lanie greeted him sarcastically.

"And good morning to you too!" he replied, equally as acrimoniously. He turned to Beckett with two take-out coffee cups in his hands, just in time to watch the colour drain from her face. "Kate, are you alright?" he asked, his voice laced with a new tone of concern. The detective closed her eyes and breathed deeply as she tried to calm her whirling stomach, the putrid stench of the rotting body covered in fish along with the rich yet overpowering essence of coffee left the detective turning on her heel swiftly and running around the corner, to the nearest bin.

"Not a word Castle" Beckett ordered as she leant over the bin breathing deeply as her stomach settled. The writer mimed locking up his mouth and throwing away the key which Kate saw from the corner of her eye, making her smile.

"What's up Beckett?" Castle asked, placing a caring hand on her back and handed her a bottle of water.

"Nothing" she replied sarcastically, "I just vomit when I'm happy." Castle rolled his eyes and chuckled at her as she straightened herself out and took a long drink of the cool water.

"Seriously Kate, you look like crap. Get in the car and I'll tell the others I'm taking you home" he told the detective simply. She just looked back at him skeptically and said

"You do realize I have an actual job right? I can't just pick and choose my hours like you writers." Castle laughed again and threw her the keys,

"Get in. I'll be back in a minute."

"So?" Castle began as he drove along the bright morning roads of New York, "What's going on? And don't tell me you ate something dodgy because we both ate the same Chinese last night." Kate gave him her trademark glare and huffed as they came to a stop at some traffic lights.

"Fine" she began as she picked at her finger nail, "I think. I mean, I might…maybe. It's possible that-"

"Katherine Beckett, are you pregnant?" Castle interrupted in a mock authoritative tone. She sighed again and replied sheepishly,

"I don't know" as a single tear glistened in the corner of her eye.

Back at the precinct Ryan and Esposito were delving deep into the details of their latest case, the murder of thirty five year old, Ukranian, tuna boat worker – Mykola Andreichenko.

"Anything on CCTV from the alley?" Ryan called as Esposito strutted back in holding a pile of paper.

"No" he replied, "but Lanie just called, she's got post-mortem results for us." Ryan nodded in response and joined his colleagues in the walk down to the morgue. Casually, as they reached the elevator, Ryan asked

"Javi…do you know what's going on with KB?" Esposito replied with a brief snigger and

"About as much as you do bro. Something's definitely not right though; she's been tired, cranky, then today…" Ryan's eyes widened suddenly

"Jesus." Esposito raised his eyebrows and shot his partner a look of confusion,

"What?" he queried, not clicking onto Ryan's realisation. Ryan gulped and held Esposito in the elevator for a moment and whispered,

"She's pregnant." Esposito thought through the possibility in his head momentarily before he replied,

"nahh, she can't be…surely she can't be."

As the pair walked into Beckett's apartment Castle placed his hand gently on her back and ordered softly,

"Go and get in your jammys, I'll make you something to eat and then we can have a little chat." Kate turned around to face him as the front door clicked shut,

"Castle I'm fine, just-" before he interrupted her and continued to walk through her flat into the kitchen singing

"la la la la la I'm not listening", to which she sighed, rolled her eyes and turned into her bedroom.

As Castle stood waiting for the kettle to boil in the kitchen he heard a bang as the bathroom door slammed shut and the sound of Kate heaving and coughing. He quickly jogged across the lounge and went to open the bathroom door. As the handle began to turn Beckett shouted in a panic,

"don't come in!" before falling forward and vomiting into the toilet bowl again.

"Hey" Castle greeted her softly, handing her a glass of fresh water as she peered her head around the bathroom door. She almost silently replied,

"Thanks." Sipping at the cool water as she silently walked back into the lounge and the pair sat on either end of the brown leather couch.


	2. Chapter 2

**Firstly: I'm so sorry that I suck and haven't updated this for ages! I've been sort of half-heartedly babbling this chapter for ages and it's taken me ages to get it right...I'm still not entirely sure I'm happy with it. **

**Secondly: I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas/Diwali/Hanukkah/whatever you celebrate, and New Year! **

**Disclaimer: Don't own. Sad Rona. *Grumbly noises* **

Kate sat with her knees up to her chest, tracing her finger around the rim of the half full glass of water, as she tried to explain, to the writer sat in front of her, how she had come to end up in the situation she was in. "It was the night after we came back from La. I was grieving for Royce and I – I ended up at a bar and – well – this guy took me back to his flat…" Castle bowed his head fighting to keep himself fully composed as his heart fluttered in his chest. As he looked up he saw that she had abandoned the glass of water and was now sitting with her head in her hands, sobbing almost silently "I'm sorry" she choked out as Castle shuffled towards her, placing a hand on the detective's shoulder.

"It's okay Kate" he spoke softly, rubbing her back in slow circular movements "it'll all be ok." She continued to cry, curling herself up even tighter as she wept,

"I can't be a mom Castle, I can't bring up the child of a man I don't even know!" It was rare for Castle, or anyone, to see 'big-bad-detective-Beckett' looking so weak and helpless so for him his actions were questionable and had to be taken with caution. If he was too soft with her then would she think he was being patronising? Make him leave? Or if he was too harsh would the walls he'd fought so hard to break down just build themselves up around her all over again? Placing his hands lightly around the top of her arms he spoke soft but firm,

"You, Kate Beckett would be the best Mother in the whole of America. You could probably look after three kids whilst arresting a six foot three karate ninja and cooking a three course meal. Because, Detective, you could do anything you put your mind to, but that doesn't mean you have to, whatever you decide you know I'll be right here." She then slowly lifted her head and gave him a soft smile, her sad eyes gleaming back at him.

"So, cause of death is still unknown but I should know more when I get blood work back from the lab" Lanie began to explain to the boys over the now cleaned body of Mr Andreichenko. "However, I can confirm that his _'scent'_ was a concoction of fish guts and oil, his knees and elbows were forcefully dislocated and all of his fingers and toes shattered. The boys screwed up their faces in disgust at the new information before continuing to listen to the ME. "I would say he's been dead at least forty-eight hours and the body would most likely have been stored somewhere since he died." Esposito's face turned to a mildly confused expression as he interrupted,

"Why do you say that?" The ME narrowed her eyes towards the Hispanic detective before replying,

"Well Javier, if you'd be patient then you'd know that I was just about to tell you that." Kevin Ryan rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face before he regained Lanie's attention,

"You were saying Dr Parish…"

"Mr Andreichenko's body was most probably stored somewhere cool before it was dumped in the alley, like maybe an industrial fridge, because the decomposition and rigor has been slowed down slightly." Ryan nodded in reply, making notes in his notebook, before asking

"Did you run a tox screen? Any sign of drugs?" The ME turned around from the table towards the desk and picked up a single sheet of white paper with small printed text on,

"I did, there was a small percentage of alcohol in his blood and some traces of cannabis, but nothing sinister or that could explain his death." The pair of detectives turned to face each other as they thought about the next phase of their investigation.

"Thanks Lane, we'll let you know if we need anything else" Esposito thanked the ME with a smile as the pair turned to leave.

"So?" Castle spoke softly as Kate emerged from the bathroom, her hand clasped tightly around the white stick of plastic. She shrugged as she sat back down on the sofa next to him,

"It takes a while." He nodded in reply to her, reaching out his hand and giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Hey Espo" Ryan called across the bullpen to his partner's desk, as he walked in with a new face by his side. Mr Mikolicyck was a short, stout, middle aged man, with thinning hair, his skin slightly tanned but aged and creased from working long days in the all weathers. "This is Igor Matviyenko, the head worker of the boat Mykola worked on." The Hispanic detective stood up from his chair and walked over to the pair with his shoulders pushed back, subconsciously enforcing his authority before outstretching his hand and greeting him

"Good to meet you, Detective Javier Esposito. Would you like to come through this way, me and Detective Ryan just want to have a little chat about Mr Andreichenko."

The pair sat in silence on the detective's sofa for the three minutes that the test took to work. Castle looked after at Kate who sat hunched up, her eyes closed as she breathed shakily, probably thinking much the same as him – 'I swear this is the longest three minutes of my life' – but about ten times more.

Finally, after what genuinely felt like decades the alarm on the detective's phone started buzzing to life as the screen lit up. She reluctantly lifted her heavy eye lids, shuffling forwards to silence the loud notification. From beneath bare lashes her brown eyes looked over to Castle, silently pleading with him.

"Do you want me to look with you?" he probed delicately, shifting just a few centimetres closer, to which she replied with a brief nod of her head, her hair falling further over her face as she did so. With a brief squeeze of her right hand, he picked up the offending plastic stick, taking a subconscious deep breath.

"So Mr Matviyenko" Ryan held a blue clipboard in his hands while Esposito leaned back, tapping his pen against his notepad, ready to make notes on the following conversation. "How well did you know Mykola?"

"Ah we he had only been working for me for me little more than a year I'm afraid. He was a very good worker but I did not know a lot about his personal life." The middle aged man answered the question willing, he had an air of confidence to him yet still managed to exude a certain amount of compassion for the young man he had lost. Ryan nodded while the man explained while Espo scribbled notes along the way.

"Do you happen to know whether he had any family in this country? A girlfriend or close friends maybe?" Ryan queried, keeping an interested eye contact throughout their conversation. Igor crossed his legs and clasped his hands on top of his knees before he happily gave the pair what little knowledge he had about the deceased worker.

"Well like I say, I did not really know very much about him, he never said anything about any family or friends really other than the guys he knew from the boats. I believe he did have a girlfriend though…Catherine..Clara maybe? I'm so sorry I can't be of more help." Ryan was quick to dismiss the man's apology, shaking his head as he corrected him,

"No no Mr Matviyenko, anything you can tell us will assist us in our investigation. All we want to do is bring Mykola's killers to justice." The older man nodded his balding head slowly, conveying the consideration in his eyes,

"I'm glad young Mykola has you and the incredible American police force fighting his corner."

"Well?" Kate's long nails dug into the skin of her hand as she stared up at Castle, waiting for the answer which could change everything for the rest of her life. Castle's bright blue eyes stayed fixed on the plastic test in his left hand, occasionally flicking his line of sight to the instructions in his right. "Castle?" the usually ballsy detective was unusually quiet, the call of his name escaping her lips in a half spoken plea. Castle continued to stare at the stick before closing his eyes slowly and tightly, praying that the result would be different when he opened his eyes. Meanwhile Kate was becoming more and more certain of the answer he was seeing. Finally, after an eternal pause filled with deafening silence he let go of the test with one hand, turning it towards the woman in front of him and pushing it in her direction. She too closed her eyes as the object was placed in her vision, taking all of her focus and concentration to take in the first words that Castle had said in a long while.

"It's positive Kate…"

**Yup so that's that. I apologise the whole pregnancy test thing is so cliché, I just really couldn't get it right. **

**Anyway, shush Rona, stop talking. **

**Please let me know what you think and I'll try my best to update soon**

**xx **


End file.
